Epic Idiot's what happened
On This Day

March 6

1992
Michelangelo Virus: The computer virus begins affecting computers.

1990
Lockheed Sr-71 A/B Blackbird sets transcontinental speed records by flying 2,124.51 mph.

1983
A woman in Newbedford, Mass. is gang-raped on a pool table while a crowd watches.

1981
"And that's the way it is," Walter Cronkite anchors his last evening newscast.

1970
Charles Manson releases the album Lie: The Love and Terror Cult to help finance his defense.

1943
First atomic bomb: The residents of Hanford, Washington are given 30 days notice to vacate. The U.S. government was buying the land to build a production facility for the first atomic bomb.

1933
The closing of all U.S. banks is ordered by Pres. F.D. Roosevelt.

1857
Dred Scott decision: It stated that slaves and descendants of slaves could not become citizens, and slaves did not become free when taken into a free State.

1836
Fall of the Alamo: Mexican forces led by Santa Anna defeat the 187 Texans - including Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie - who had declared their independence from Mexico in an effort to establish their own country.

1972
Shaquille Rashaun O'Neal, American basketball player.

1965
Suzanne Crough, American actress. TV: The Partridge Family (Tracy).

1959
Tom Arnold, American actor.  TV: Roseanne (Arnie), Best Damn Sports Show Period,  and Arby's commercials (voice of the oven mitt). Film: True Lies (1994).

1946
David Gilmore, English guitarist, singer with Pink Floyd.

1945
Rob Reiner, American Emmy-winning actor, director. TV: All In the Family (Meathead).

1944
Mary Wilson, American singer, with the Supremes.

1944
David Gilmour, English singer, guitarist, with Pink Floyd. Music: Dark Side of the Moon (1972, #1), Wish You Were Here (1975, #1), and The Wall (1979, #1).

1939     d. 2003
Adam Osborne, personal computer pioneer.  He created the first commercially available portable computer, the Osborne 1 (1981). He is also credited with the "Osborne Effect," after announcing the development of his company's new advanced computers. This killed sales of the Osborne 1, bankrupting the company.

1937
Ivan F. Boesky, American Wall Street investor. He agreed to return profits and pay a $100 million fine for insider trading (1987).

1936
Marion Barry (Marion Shepilov Barry, Jr.) American politician, mayor of Washington, D.C. (1979-91).  He was arrested in 1990 for crack cocaine use and possession.

1927     d. 2004
Leroy Gordon Cooper, American astronaut, one of the seven original Project Mercury astronauts.  He was portrayed by Dennis Quaid in the movie The Right Stuff (1983).

1926
Alan Greenspan, American economist, chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (1987-2006).

1923
Ed McMahon, American TV personality. TV: Johnny Carson's sidekick, and a circus clown for the 1950s show Big Top.

1917     d. 2005
Will Eisner, American cartoonist, creator of The Spirit (1940).

1915     d. 2002
Pete Gray (Peter Wyshner), American one-armed pro baseball player. He batted a .218 as an outfielder for St. Louis (1945) and was the Southern Association's 1944 MVP. Having lost his right arm as child - he was a right-hander - he learned to bat and field with his left arm.

1908     d. 1959
Lou Costello (Louis Francis Cristillo), American Comedian, Abbott's partner.

1899     d. 1960
Richard Leo Simon, American publisher, co-founder of the publishing house of Simon and Schuster (1924). Their first book was the world's first crossword puzzle book.

1812     d. 1895
Aaron Lufkin Dennison, father of American watchmaking. He designed the world's first factory-made watches.

1806     d. 1861
Elizabeth Barrett Browning, English poet.  She's famous for the line, "How do I love thee? Let me count the ways."

1724     d. 1792
Henry Laurens, 5th president of the Continental Congress (1777-78), signer of the Treaty of Paris (ending the Revolutionary War), was the first person to be formally cremated in America.

1619     d. 1655
Cyrano de Bergerac, French dramatist. The French poet Edmond Rostand published a fictionalized play (1897) in which Cyrano woos Roxane on behalf of his less articulate friend.

1475     d. 1564
Michelangelo Buonarroti, Italian Renaissance artist. His works include his marble sculpture of David (1504) and the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican (1512).

1994     b. 1923
Melina Mercouri, Greek actress. Film: Never on Sunday (1960, Cannes Best Actress). In 1977 she gained a seat on the Greek parliament, becoming the Minister of Culture.

1982     b. 1905
Ayn Rand, Russian-born American author. Writings: Anthem (1938), The Fountainhead (1943), and Atlas Shrugged (1957).

1973     b. 1892
Pearl Sydenstricker Buck, American author, won 1938 Nobel prize for literature, and the 1932 Pulitzer prize for The Good Earth.

1900     b. 1834
Gottlieb Wilhelm Daimler, German inventor. He developed the first high speed internal combustion engine (1883) and invented the motorboat (1883) and the motorcycle (1885).

1888     b. 1832
Louisa May Alcott, American author. Writings: Little Women (1868) and Little Men (1871).

1885     b. 1809
Timothy Shay Arthur, American playwright. His play Ten Nights in a Bar-room (1854) is probably the most popular play in U.S. history. It has been made into four movies and is still produced regularly across the country.

1836     b. 1786
Davy Crockett, American frontiersman, died at the Alamo.

1809     b. 1746
Thomas Heyward, Jr., American patriot, signer of the Declaration of Independence.

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